GI Special C/o thomasfbarton@earthlink.net 9.22.03
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GI SPECIAL #98
All U.S. Troops In Iraq
Be Advised:
U.S. Officials Say Your
Dead Bodies Necessary
So Investors Can “Make
Money In Iraq”
By Brian Love, Sept. 21, 2003
DUBAI (Reuters) - U.S.-controlled Iraq, struggling to restore security, energy and water,
told the world's leading financiers Sunday it would throw its economy open to foreign
investors in every industry but oil.
What was most revealing and perhaps worrying because of Washington's disputed
invasion and post-war management of Iraq, experts said, was the vehemence of
support coming from U.S. officials for what the Iraqi minister announced.
"You can make money in a country like Iraq," the official said. "You don't have to
have everything be perfect to make money."
COMMENT:
Under the heading of something not “perfect”, one assumes, are the endless
killings and wounding of .US occupation soldiers, paying the price in blood so
“You can make money in a country like Iraq.”
Now you know what you’re really still there for. “U.S. officials” said it. And
“officials” makes it official.
Now you know why we need you back home so badly. Organized criminals are in
control of the government. We need some help here.)
OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
“You can make money in a country like Iraq.”
Returning 3rd ID Soldier Says Bush
'Should Go Fight In A War For Two
Days And See How He Likes It'
L.A. Times, 9-12-03.
"Bush delivered a personal thank you today to the soldiers who bore the brunt of the
burden in Iraq - the army's Third Infantry Division..
Pvt. Kenneth Henry, 21, a radar operator with a field artillery unit, said the response was
muted by the pervasive knowledge among the soldiers and their families that they will
likely have to return to Iraq soon.
'How could [he] make these people feel better when [he] just said you're putting $87
billion into sending them back?' Henry asked.
Henry spent about six months in Iraq, traveling from Kuwait over the border to Nasiriyah
and through the Karbala Gap before helping to take the Baghdad airport. He said he lost
10 members of his unit, the Alpha 1-39 Field Artillery, and he's not eager to go back.
'What I heard him say was, 'You went there. You took names. Came home. Now
you're going back,'' Henry said. 'He likes war. He should go fight in a war for two
days and see how he likes it.'"
What do you think? Comments from service men and
women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to
the E-mail address up top. Name, I.D., withheld on
request. Replies confidential.
“Stretched Thin, Lied to &
Mistreated;”
“Volcanic Rage” And Sham
Patrols Signal The
Demoralization of An Army
On the ground with US troops in Iraq
by Christian Parenti, Published in the October 6, 2003 issue of The Nation
An M-16 rifle hangs by a cramped military cot. On the wall above is a message in thick
black ink: "Ali Baba, you owe me a strawberry milk!"
It's a private joke but could just as easily summarize the worldview of American soldiers
here in Baghdad, the fetid basement of Donald Rumsfeld's house of victory. Trapped in
the polluted heat, poorly supplied and cut off from regular news, the GIs are
fighting a guerrilla war that they neither wanted, expected nor trained for.
On the urban battlefields of central Iraq, the high-tech weaponry that so
emboldens Pentagon bureaucrats is largely useless, and the grinding work of
counterinsurgency is done the old-fashioned way--by hand. Not surprisingly, most
of the American GIs stuck with the job are weary, frustrated and ready to go home.
It is noon and the mercury is hanging steady at 115 Fahrenheit. The filmmaker Garrett
Scott and I are "embedded" with Alpha Company of the Third Battalion of the 124th
Infantry, a Florida National Guard unit about half of whom did time in the regular Army,
often with elite groups like the Rangers. Like most frontline troops in Iraq, the majority
are white but there is a sizable minority of African-American and Latino soldiers among
them. Unlike most combat units, about 65 percent are college students--they've traded
six years with the Guard for tuition at Florida State. Typically, that means occasional
weekends in the Everglades or directing traffic during hurricanes. Instead, these guys
got sent to Iraq, and as yet they have no sure departure date.
Mobilized in December, they crossed over from Kuwait on day one of the invasion and
are now bivouacked in the looted remains of a Republican Guard officers' club, a
modernist slab of polished marble and tinted glass that the GIs have fortified with
plywood, sandbags and razor wire.
Behind "the club" is a three-story dormitory, a warren of small one-bedroom
apartments, each holding a nine-man squad of soldiers and all their gear. Around
200 guys are packed in here. Their sweaty fatigues drape the banisters of the
exterior stairway, while inside the cramped, dark rooms the floors are covered
with cots, heaps of flak vests, guns and, where possible, big tin, water-based airconditioners called swamp coolers. Surrounding the base is a chaotic workingclass neighborhood of two- and three-story cement homes and apartment
buildings. Not far away is the muddy Tigris River.
This company limits patrols to three or four hours a day. For the many hours in between,
the guys pull guard duty, hang out in their cavelike rooms or work out in a makeshift
weight room.
"We're getting just a little bit stir-crazy," explains the lanky Sergeant Sellers. His
demeanor is typical of the nine-man squad we have been assigned to, friendly but
serious, with a wry and angry sense of humor. On the side of his helmet Sellers has, in
violation of regs, attached the unmistakable pin and ring of a hand grenade. Next to it is
written, "Pull Here."
Leaning back on a cot, he's drawing a large, intricate pattern on a female mannequin
leg. The wall above him displays a photo collage of pictures retrieved from a looted Iraqi
women's college. Smiling young ladies wearing the hijab sip sodas and stroll past
buses. They seem to be on some sort of field trip. Nearby are photos clipped from
Maxim, of coy young American girls offering up their pert round bottoms. Dominating it
all is a large hand-drawn dragon and a photo of Jessica Lynch with a bubble
caption reading: "Hi, I am a war hero. And I think that weapons maintenance is
totally unimportant."
They don't like Lynch and find the story of her rescue ridiculous. They'd been
down the same road a day earlier and are unsympathetic. "We just feel that it's
unfair and kind of distorted the way the whole Jessica, quote, 'rescue' thing got
hyped," explains Staff Sgt. Kreed Howell. He is in charge of the squad, and at 31 a
bit older than most of his men. Muscular and clean-cut, Howell is a relaxed and natural
leader, with the gracious bearing of a proper Southern upbringing.
"In other words, you'd have to be really fucking dumb to get lost on the road," says
another, less diplomatic soldier.
Specialist John Crawford sits in a tiny, windowless supply closet that is loaded with
packs and gear. He is two credits short of a BA in anthropology and wants to go to
graduate school. Howell, a Republican, amicably describes Crawford as the squad's
house liberal.
There's just enough extra room in the closet for Crawford, a chair and a little shelf on
which sits a laptop. Hanging by this makeshift desk is a handwritten sign from "the
management" requesting that soldiers masturbating in the supply closet "remove their
donations in a receptacle." Instead of watching pornography DVDs, Crawford is here to
finish a short story. "Trying to start writing again," he says.
Crawford is a fan of Tim O'Brien, particularly The Things They Carried. We chat,
then he shows me his short story. It's about a vet who is back home in north
Florida trying to deal with the memory of having accidentally blown away a child
while serving in Iraq.
Later in the cramped main room, Sellers and Sergeant Brunelle, another one of the
squad's more gregarious and dominant personalities, are matter-of-factly showing us
digital photos of dead Iraqis.
"These guys shot at some of our guys, so we lit 'em up. Put two .50-cal rounds in
their vehicle. One went through this dude's hip and into the other guy's head,"
explains Brunelle. The third man in the car lived. "His buddy was crying like a
baby. Just sitting there bawling with his friend's brains and skull fragments all
over his face. One of our guys came up to him and is like: 'Hey! No crying in
baseball!'"
"I know that probably sounds sick," says Sellers, "but humor is the only way you
can deal with this shit."
And just below the humor is volcanic rage.
These guys are proud to be soldiers and don't want to come across as whiners,
but they are furious about what they've been through. They hate having their lives
disrupted and put at risk. They hate the military for its stupidity, its feckless
lieutenants and blowhard brass living comfortably in Saddam's palaces. They
hate Iraqis--or, as they say, "hajis"--for trying to kill them. They hate the country
for its dust, heat and sewage-clogged streets. They hate having killed people.
Some even hate the politics of the war. And because most of them are, ultimately,
just regular well-intentioned guys, one senses the distinct fear that someday a few
may hate themselves for what they have been forced to do here.
Added to such injury is insult: The military treats these soldiers like unwanted
stepchildren. This unit's rifles are retooled hand-me-downs from Vietnam. They
have inadequate radio gear, so they buy their own unencrypted Motorola walkietalkies. The same goes for flashlights, knives and some components for nightvision sights. The low-performance Iraqi air-conditioners and fans, as well as the
one satellite phone and payment cards shared by the whole company for calling
home, were also purchased out of pocket from civilian suppliers.
Bottled water rations are kept to two liters a day. After that the guys drink from "water
buffaloes"--big, hot chlorination tanks that turn the amoeba-infested dreck from the local
taps into something like swimming-pool water. Mix this with powdered Gatorade and
you can wash down a famously bad MRE (Meal Ready to Eat).
To top it all off they must endure the pathologically uptight culture of the Army
hierarchy. The Third of the 124th is now attached to the newly arrived First
Armored Division, and when it is time to raid suspected resistance cells it's the
Guardsmen who have to kick in the doors and clear the apartments.
“The First AD wants us to catch bullets for them but won't give us enough water,
doesn't let us wear do-rags and makes us roll down our shirt sleeves so we look
proper! Can you believe that shit?" Sergeant Sellers is pissed off.
The soldiers' improvisation extends to food as well. After a month or so of occupying "the
club," the company commander, Captain Sanchez, allowed two Iraqi entrepreneurs to
open shop on his side of the wire--one runs a slow Internet cafe, the other a kebab stand
where the "Joes" pay US dollars for grilled lamb on flat bread.
"The haji stand is one of the only things we have to look forward to, but the First AD
keeps getting scared and shutting it down." Sellers is on a roll, but he's not alone.
Even the lighthearted Howell, who insists that the squad has it better than most
troops, chimes in. "The one thing I will say is that we have been here entirely too
long. If I am not home by Christmas my business will fail." Back "on earth" (in Panama
City, Florida), Howell is a building contractor, with a wife, two small children, equipment,
debts and employees.
Perhaps the most shocking bit of military incompetence is the unit's lack of formal
training in what's called "close-quarter combat." The urbanized mayhem of Mogadishu
may loom large in the discourse of the military's academic journals like Parameters and
the Naval War College Review, but many US infantrymen are trained only in large-scale,
open-country maneuvers--how to defend Germany from a wave of Russian tanks.
So, since "the end of the war" these guys have had to retrain themselves in the
dark arts of urban combat. "The houses here are small, too," says Brunelle. "Once
you're inside you can barely get your rifle up. You got women screaming, people,
furniture everywhere. It's insane."
By now this company has conducted scores of raids, taken fire on the street, taken
casualties, taken rocket-propelled grenade attacks to the club and are defiantly proud of
the fact that they have essentially been abandoned, survived, retrained themselves and
can keep a lid on their little piece of Baghdad. But it's not always the Joes who have
the upper hand. Increasingly, Haji seems to sets the agenda.
A thick black plume of smoke rises from Karrada Street, a popular electronics district
where US patrols often buy air-conditioners and DVDs. An American Humvee, making
just such a stop, has been blown to pieces by a remote-activated "improvised explosive
device," or IED, buried in the median between two lanes of traffic. By chance two
colleagues and I are the first press on the scene. The street is empty of traffic and quiet
except for the local shopkeepers, who occasionally call out to us in Arabic and English:
"Be careful."
Finally we get close enough to see clearly. About twenty feet away is a military transport
truck and a Humvee, and beyond that are the flaming remains of a third Humvee. A
handful of American soldiers are crouched behind the truck, totally still. There's no firing,
no yelling, no talking, no radio traffic. No one is screaming, but two GIs are down. As
yet there are no reinforcements or helicopters overhead. All one can hear is the burning
of the Humvee.
Then it begins: The ammunition in the burning Humvee starts to explode and the troops
in the street start firing. Armored personnel carriers arrive and disgorge dozens of
soldiers from the 82nd Airborne to join the fight. The target is a three-story office
building just across from the engulfed Humvee. Occasionally we hear a few rounds of
return fire pass by like hot razors slashing straight lines through the air. The really close
rounds just sound like loud cracks.
"That's Kalashnikov. I know the voice," says Ahmed, our friend and translator.
There is a distinct note of national pride in his voice--his countrymen are fighting
back--never mind the fact that we are now mixed in with the most forward US
troops and getting shot at.
The firefight goes on for about two hours, moving slowly and methodically. It is in many
ways an encapsulation of the whole war--confusing and labor-intensive. The GIs have
more firepower than they can use, and they don't even know exactly where or who
the enemy is. Civilians are hiding in every corner, the ground floor of the target building
is full of merchants and shoppers, and undisciplined fire could mean scores of dead
civilians.
There are two GIs on the ground, one with his legs gone and probably set to die.
When a medevac helicopter arrives just overhead, it, too, like much other
technology, is foiled. The street is crisscrossed with electrical wires and there is
no way the chopper can land to extract the wounded. The soldiers around us look
grave and tired.
Eventually some Bradley fighting vehicles start pounding the building with mean 250millimeter cannon shells. Whoever might have been shooting from upstairs is either
dead or gone.
The street is now littered with overturned air-conditioners, fans and refrigerators. A
cooler of sodas sits forlorn on the sidewalk. Farther away two civilians lie dead, caught in
the crossfire. A soldier peeks out from the hatch of a Bradley and calls over to a
journalist, "Hey, can you grab me one of those Cokes?"
After the shootout we promised ourselves we'd stay out of Humvees and away from US
soldiers. But that was yesterday. Now Crawford is helping us put on body armor and
soon we'll be on patrol. As we move out with the nine soldiers the mood is somewhere
between tense and bored. Crawford mockingly introduces himself to no one in
particular: "John Crawford, I work in population reduction."
“Watch the garbage--if you see wires coming out of a pile it's an IED," warns Howell. The
patrol is uneventful. We walk fast through back streets and rubbish-strewn lots, pouring
sweat in the late afternoon heat. Local residents watch the small squad with a mixture of
civility, indifference and open hostility. An Iraqi man shouts, "When? When? When?
Go!" The soldiers ignore him.
"Sometimes we sham," explains one of the guys. "We'll just go out and kick it
behind some wall. Watch what's going on but skip the walking. And sometimes at
night we get sneaky-deaky. Creep up on Haji, so he knows we're all around."
"I am just walking to be walking," says the laconic Fredrick Pearson, a k a "Diddy," the
only African-American in Howell's squad. Back home he works in the State Supreme
Court bureaucracy and plans to go to law school. "I just keep an eye on the rooftops,
look around and walk."
The patrols aren't always peaceful. One soldier mentions that he recently "kicked the shit
out of a 12-year-old kid" who menaced him with a toy gun.
Later we roll with the squad on another patrol, this time at night and in two Humvees.
Now there's more evident hostility from the young Iraqi men loitering in the dark. Most of
these infantry soldiers don't like being stuck in vehicles. At a blacked-out corner where a
particularly large group of youths are clustered, the Humvees stop and Howell bails out
into the crowd. There is no interpreter along tonight.
"Hey, guys! What's up? How y'all doing? OK? Everything OK? All right?" asks Howell in
his jaunty, laid-back north Florida accent. The sullen young men fade away into the dark,
except for two, who shake the sergeant's hand. Howell's attempt to take the high road,
winning hearts and minds, doesn't seem to be for show. He really believes in this war.
But in the torrid gloom of the Baghdad night, his efforts seem tragically doomed.
Watching Howell I think about the civilian technocrats working with Paul Bremer
at the Coalition Provisional Authority; the electricity is out half the time, and these
folks hold meetings on how best to privatize state industries and end food rations.
Meanwhile, the city seethes. The Pentagon, likewise, seems to have no clear plan;
its troops are stretched thin, lied to and mistreated. The whole charade feels
increasingly patched together, poorly improvised. Ultimately, there's very little
that Howell and his squad can do about any of this. After all, it's not their war.
They just work here.
Christian Parenti is the author, most recently, of The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America
From Slavery to the War on Terror (Basic) and a fellow at City University of New York's
Center for Place, Culture, and Politics.
Enraged Military Families Launch
Wildfire Of Protests Over Tour
Extensions;
Their Soldiers Kept In Iraq Hauling Golf
Carts For “High Ranking Officers”
Vernon Loeb, Washington Post, September 20, 2003
Angry protests mounted this week among families of Army National Guard and
Reserve troops as the full impact of a new policy requiring those forces to serve
year-long tours in Iraq began to hit home across the country.
In Kansas, family members of soldiers in the 129th Transportation Company, an
Army Reserve unit, set up a Web site and almost immediately gathered 8,000
signatures on the Internet demanding that the Army scrap 12-month tours.
In Michigan, the wife of a soldier in the 1438th Engineer Detachment, an Army
National Guard unit, said three-quarters of her husband's fellow soldiers are
planning to quit as soon as they return from tours in Iraq that could be extended
by four months under the new policy.
And in Florida, Sen. Bill Nelson (D) said after meeting with angry National Guard families
in Orlando and Tampa that he would put a hold on the nomination of James G. Roche to
become Army secretary if the policy is not modified.
The gathering storm of protest comes after months of concern inside and outside the
Army that an over-reliance on Guard and Reserve forces by the Bush administration in
the war on terrorism could adversely affect retention and recruiting. Some officials have
expressed concern that this could break the Guard and Reserve system, which
augments the active-duty force.
The National Guard comprises eight Army combat divisions and has a total strength of
350,000 troops. Guard units fall under the command of governors until their services are
required under federal law by the Defense Department. The Army Reserve, with a total
strength of 205,000 troops, consists primarily of combat support units in engineering,
military police services, medical support, transportation, civil affairs and psychological
operations.
About 128,430 service members from the Army Reserve and the National Guard are on
active duty, including about 20,000 in Iraq and Kuwait subject to the 12 months-intheater policy.
Army officials have said in recent weeks that lengthy overseas tours in Afghanistan and
Iraq have had no discernible impact on recruitment for both the active-duty and Reserve
forces. But the same cannot be said for the National Guard, which appears to be
falling short of its annual goal by more than 20 percent, having signed up only
47,907 people toward a recruiting goal of 62,000 by the end of August.
Retention may be another matter. Reservists and their family members predict
that the new policy is likely to have a devastating impact as individuals drop out
of the Reserves after they return.
Under the new policy, total mobilization time for troops could increase from one to
six months, because time spent in the United States no longer counts against the
12-month requirement. Most of the troops spent significant time on duty in the
United States before going to Iraq.
Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, chief of the Army Reserves, said in an interview that the
families of Reserve forces have not been given adequate information about either the
12-month policy or the steps being taken to shorten future mobilizations. A video
explaining both, he said, will soon be sent to family members nationwide.
(Fucking marvelous, as if the families can be pacified by a stupid lying
propaganda movie. What breathtaking contempt for the military families
intelligence.)
But Helmly said the Army has no choice but to go to 12-month tours in Iraq for Guard
and Reserve forces. (Asshole Helmly has another choice, BRING ALL THE
TROOPS HOME NOW!!!)
In Kansas, Amanda Bellew, wife of Army Spec. Jason Bellew, a member of the
129th Transportation Company, said she and other family members are hoping to
gather 50,000 signatures on their Web site, www.129bringthemhome.com, to
present to Congress in opposition to the extended tours. The petition had 7,031
names by Tuesday.
(And how about 50,000 people delivering it personally to the White House. Maybe
the returned members of the 3rd ID could serve as an honor guard, fully armed of
course to protect the military family members from reprisals by criminals and
traitors like Bush, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld and Cheney.)
Amanda Bellew said the tours seem particularly onerous, since the 129th, made up of
troops who drive and maintain heavy-equipment transports for hauling 70-ton M1
Abrams tanks, has recently been short of appropriate missions.
"We have pictures of a golf cart tied down in the middle of this trailer," she said.
"They hauled SUVs for high-ranking officers on one mission, and by the time they
got where they were going, all the windows [of the SUVs] were busted out, from
things being thrown at them."
The unit was mobilized in January, she said, but did not leave for Iraq until April. "We
were all planning for December or January homecomings," she said. "But now they're
talking about April 2004, and possibly as late as January 2005. She said she doesn't
fear repercussions for her husband because of the petition drive and letters.
"All we're trying to do is get our husbands home," she said.
Glenda Whitaker, wife of Sgt. John Whitaker of the 129th, said not crediting the soldiers
with the three months between their call-up and their arrival in Kuwait is a disservice.
"It's not fair to the families; it's not fair to the soldiers," she said.
Charlene Gemar, supervisory public affairs specialist for the 89th, said the Army
respects the right of the wives to set up the Web site.
"We would never tell the family members not to do something even if we don't
necessarily agree with them. They're missing their soldiers," Gemar said.
Do you have a friend or relative in the service? Forward this E-MAIL along,
or send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in
Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend,
too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the
war, at home and in Iraq, and information about other social protest movements
here in the USA. Send requests to address up top. For copies on web site
see:http://www.notinourname.net/gi-special/
IRAQ WAR REPORTS:
Three U.S. Soldiers Killed In Two Fresh
Resistance Attacks; 13 Wounded;
(But “You Can Make Money In A Country Like Iraq”)
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer, Sept. 21, 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three American soldiers died in a mortar attack and a roadside
bombing west of the capital.
The U.S. military reported two soldiers from the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade
were killed when mortars struck a U.S. base at the Abu Ghraib prison on the
western outskirts of Baghdad about 10 p.m. Saturday. Thirteen other soldiers
were wounded in the attack. No prisoners were hurt. (Very professional target
selection.)
Shortly before the Abu Ghraib shelling, a soldier from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near his Humvee outside Ramadi, about 60
miles west of the capital, the military said.
Those deaths brought to 165 the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq since
President Bush declared an end to major fighting on May 1. During the heavy
fighting before then, 138 soldiers died. The latest deaths brought to 303 the
number of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led coalition
launched military operations March 20.
Mortar Attack Kills 8 in Halidia;
(But “You Can Make Money In A Country Like Iraq”)
Itar-Tass (Russia), September 19, 2003
Mortars were fired on an American military column in Halidia district, which is
west of Baghdad, killing eight U.S. servicemen and wounding six others. The Arab "AlArabia" television reported on the incidents.
TROOP NEWS
Military Families Renew Call to Pull
Troops out of Iraq
By Lawrence Morahan, CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer, September 10, 2003
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Declaring their loved ones were deceived by the Bush
administration, the family members of troops serving in Iraq urged Congress on
Tuesday to bring home the troops and vote down additional spending for the war.
Representatives of Military Families Speak Out, an organization of 800 to 1,000 military
families opposed to the war, said at a meeting on Capitol Hill that the morale of U.S.
troops in Iraq is deteriorating as the number of fatalities and combat-related injuries
continues to rise.
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) reported he had just returned from a visit to the amputee
and psychiatry wards of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he talked to
troops who had lost limbs or suffered other injuries in Iraq.
"It's getting to be like Vietnam," said McDermott.
McDermott told CNSNews.com he talked to a soldier who lost an eye and a leg.
"He said it's like Vietnam, there's no honor, they're not wearing uniforms anymore
so you don't know who your enemy is and who isn't, and it took me right back to
my experience in the Vietnam War ... where people were throwing hand grenades into
the laps of people and throwing them under beds and all kinds of stuff," McDermott said.
McDermott said he would not vote for any more money until the United States goes to
the United Nations and negotiates a resolution to share responsibility in Iraq.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said many members of Congress oppose continued
deployments to Iraq but go along with the administration's policies out of fear they'd be
called unpatriotic or targeted in reelection campaigns. Waters said she would oppose
$87 billion in supplemental spending on Iraq and the war on terrorism.
Nancy Lessin, the co-founder of Military Families Speak Out and the mother of a Marine
who served in Iraq, said she never saw a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.
Lessin read a letter from another woman whose son died in Iraq.
"'It's too late for my son, but it's not too late for the many tens of thousands still in
Iraq. Bring them home now,'" the letter said.
Marine Command Fucks Up;
Iraqis—and Marines—Pay The Price
By John Daniszewski, Tony Perry and David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times, 21
September 2003
Marine Sgt. Miles Johnson and Pfc. Patrick Payne Jr. rode the last truck of a long
military convoy arriving in Baghdad after the long push north. They were
assigned to protect fellow Marines on what officers warned would be the most
dangerous day of the war, as the convoy crawled through the crowded streets of
Saddam Hussein's capital. Their M-16s were locked and loaded; the two Marines
from Camp Pendleton were eager for action.
The Iraqis car came upon the tail end of the U.S. convoy as they left the city
center in the early spring twilight. Seconds later, Khadim Hussein and two
passengers were dead, shot by Johnson and Payne.
A new book, "The March Up: Taking Baghdad With the 1st Marine Division," by
retired Marine Maj. Gen. Ray L. Smith and former Assistant Secretary of Defense
Bing West, praises the Marines for trying to prevent civilian casualties but
also criticizes the corps for not giving its troops better orders on how to
deal with civilian cars approaching their convoys. They said that young
Marines might have been overly alarmed by reports of civilian-led attacks.
"The Marines had no set rules for when to fire on an approaching vehicle, or at
what distance," Smith and West wrote. "
IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP
Another Day, Another Death-Trap For US
Soldiers
by Robert Fisk, September 19, 2003 by the Independent, UK
The American Humvee had burnt out, the US troop transporter had been smashed by
rockets and an Iraqi lorry - riddled by American bullets in the aftermath of the attack - still
lay smoldering on the central reservation.
"I saw the Americans flying through the air, blasted upwards," an Iraqi mechanic with an
oil lamp in his garage said - not, I thought, without some satisfaction. "The wounded
Americans were on the road, shouting and screaming."
The US authorities in Iraq acknowledged three US soldiers dead. Several Iraqis
described seeing arms and legs and pieces of uniform scattered across the highway.
As American Abrams tanks thrashed down the darkened highway outside Khaldiya last
night - the soft-skinned Humvee jeeps were no longer to be seen in the town - the full
implications of the ambush became clear.
There were three separate ambushes in Khaldiya and the guerrillas showed a new
sophistication. Even as I left the scene of the killings after dark, US army flares were
dripping over the semi-desert plain 100 miles west of Baghdad while red tracer fire raced
along the horizon behind the palm trees. It might have been a scene from a Vietnam
movie, even an archive newsreel clip; for this is now tough, lethal guerrilla country for the
Americans, a death-trap for them almost every day.
Iraqis at the scene gave a chilling account of the attack. A bomb - apparently
buried beneath the central reservation of the four-lane highway - exploded beside
an American truck carrying at least 10 US soldiers and, almost immediately, a
rocket-propelled grenade hit a Humvee carrying three soldiers behind the lorry.
"The Americans opened fire at all the Iraqis they could see - at all of us," Yahyia, an Iraqi
truck driver, said. "They don't care about the Iraqis." The bullet holes show that the US
troops fired at least 22 rounds into the Iraqi lorry that was following their vehicles when
their world exploded around them.
The mud hut homes of the dirt-poor Iraqi families who live on the 30-foot embankment of
earth and sand above the road were laced with American rifle fire. The guerrillas interestingly, the locals called them mujahedin, "holy warriors" - then fired rocketpropelled grenades at the undamaged vehicles of the American convoy as they
tried to escape. A quarter of a mile down the road - again from a ridge of sand and
earth - more grenades were launched at the Americans.
Again, according to the Sunni Muslim Iraqis the Americans fired back, this time shooting
into a crowd of bystanders who had left their homes at the sound of the shooting.
Several, including the driver of the truck that was hit by the Americans after the initial
bombing, were wounded and taken to hospital for treatment in the nearest city to the
west, Ramadi.
"They opened fire randomly at us, very heavy fire," Adel, the mechanic with the oil lamp,
said. "They don't care about us. They don't care about the Iraqi people, and we will have
to suffer this again. But I tell you that they will suffer for what they did to us today. They
will pay the price in blood."
As we spoke, mortar fire crashed down on Habbaniyeh, its detonation lighting up
the darkness as explosions vibrated through the ground beneath our feet. This
was guerrilla warfare on a co-ordinated scale, planned and practiced long in
advance. To set up even yesterday's ambush required considerable planning, a
team of perhaps 20 men and the ability to choose the best terrain for an ambush.
That is exactly what the Iraqis did. The embankment above the road gave the gunmen
cover and a half-mile wide view of the US convoy. They must have known the
Americans would have opened fire at anything that moved in the aftermath - indeed, the
guerrillas probably hoped they would - and angry crowds in the town of Khaldiya were
claiming last night that 20 Iraqi civilians had been wounded.
I couldn't help noticing the graffiti on a wall in Fallujah. It was written in Arabic, in a
careful, precise hand, by someone who had taken his time to produce a real threat.
"He who gives the slightest help to the Americans," the graffiti read, "is a traitor
and a collaborator."
“I Thought They Came As Liberators”
Stephen R. Hurst, Washington Post, September 19, 2003
The Americans are under increasing pressure as the guerrilla resistance has stepped up
its hit-and-run attacks and is bringing more firepower and sophistication to the fight.
In areas where resistance is stiffest, the massive response by U.S. soldiers is changing
once-neutral residents into outright opponents.
"The killing of the policemen was the turning point for me," said Sabah Khalaf,
recalling the Sept. 12 friendly-fire killing of eight U.S.-allied Iraqi policemen in Fallujah one of the most dangerous cities for American forces.
Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division killed the policemen as they chased a highway
bandit. The military apologized for that incident and opened a high-level investigation.
"I thought they came as liberators and had hope that they would bring this
country freedom," said Khalaf, a 31-year-old resident of Fallujah. "Initially, we
were against the police, calling them agents of the Americans. But by killing the
police, the Americans showed their true faces. ... I think the attacks against them
will increase, and revenge for the dead policemen will be taken."
Iraqi Council Member 'Critically' Wounded
BBC NEWS, 20 September 2003
One of the three woman on Iraq's Governing Council has been seriously wounded in a
gun attack in western Baghdad. Aqila al-Hashimi - the only council member to have
served in the former government of Saddam Hussein - was leaving home by car when
unidentified gunmen opened fire causing the vehicle to crash.
There has been a string of attacks on Iraqi figures viewed by Saddam loyalists as
collaborators with the American occupying forces
Ms Hashimi was preparing to travel to New York next week as part of the Iraqi
delegation to the United Nations General Assembly that hopes to occupy Iraq's
seat at the UN.
Some Iraqis have criticized the Governing Council and the process by which it was set
up, saying it is merely an extension of the coalition authority, with no real power or
independence. (No shit?)
FORWARD OBSERVATIONS
Vet Condemns Hypocrisy In Action
"To close VA Hospitals at a time when we have more soldiers serving in combat
is the sheerest form of hypocrisy. You can wave flags and yellow ribbons all you
want, but if you're doing this, you're a hypocrite, and it's unacceptable to us."
David Cline, Veterans For Peace
(For more, see a hard-hitting interview with David Cline about
how to help troops stop the war at www.isreview.org.)
A US tank passes by as a crane removes a burned American military truck after US troops were
ambushed near Khaldiyah on Sept. 18, 2003. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
OCCUPATION REPORT
Occupations’ Hand-Picked Puppet
Governing Council Turning On The
Puppet Masters
By Alissa J. Rubin, Los Angeles Times, 20 September 2003
BAGHDAD — Cracks are emerging in the relationship between the U.S.-led
Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council, suggesting that
as the Iraqis gain more power they may well pursue policies that could undercut
coalition efforts.
The council members, appointed by the Occupation authority, have begun acting
on their own, approving provisions and publicly floating proposals without
discussing them with coalition leaders.
Topics include prodding Americans to hand over power more quickly.
One proposal likely to be approved by the council envisions combining the militias of
various factions as well as some members of the old regime's police and military into a
paramilitary force controlled by the Iraqi Interior Ministry
The council's growing independence puts the Americans in a corner. Coalition
officials are trying to prove to the world that they are sincere about giving Iraqis real
power over their government.
The council members' bid for power comes at a time when the Americans can ill
afford to confront them. France and Germany are pushing the Americans to hand
over control to Iraqis quickly in order to win U.N. financial support and diplomatic backing
for Iraq's reconstruction — help the Americans sorely need.
Those council members are aware of the pressure on the Americans to give the
Iraqis power and avoid confrontation, and are capitalizing on it, one coalition
official said.
On Sunday, the council approved a new law on de-Baathification and announced
it publicly before reviewing the details with Bremer. The measure would not only
remove a number of Iraqis from their jobs because they formerly held positions in the
Baath Party — the organization through which Hussein maintained tight control over the
nation — but also revoke exceptions made by Bremer in the de-Baathification order
he issued in May.
Bremer is trying to soften the proposal — for practical reasons — but is limited in
the changes he can make without giving the impression that he is secondguessing the council's authority over a policy that has to do almost entirely with
internal Iraqi politics.
The biggest fight on the horizon is over the council's effort to take responsibility
for security from the Americans. Security is the single most important issue to
most Iraqis and is also the key to power in a country where virtually every citizen
is armed.
How the coalition copes with the latest efforts by the council's major parties to
augment their power remains to be seen, but it appears all but certain that the
next several months will be a constant struggle between the council and the
coalition.
Iraqi State Will Own Oil;
No Buyers Seen For Rest Of State
Businesses Because “Capital Is A Coward”
September 21, 2003, By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Aiming to reverse decades of economic decay
under Saddam Hussein, Iraq's leadership council announced sweeping free-market
reforms Sunday that would permit foreign investment and impose income taxes -but keep oil under government control.
Yet even the council's U.S. backers conceded that big multinationals were not likely
to rush to Iraq, despite its promise, as long as instability reigns and violence
erupts daily.
``Capital is a coward,'' U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said. ``It doesn't go
places where it feels threatened. Companies will not send employees to places
that aren't secure.''
Iraq's vast oil reserves -- the world's second largest after Saudi Arabia's -- would remain
in government hands.
``They're going to run government finances based on oil revenues,'' Snow said.
Occupiers Suspected Of Losing Touch With
Reality;
Definitely Loses Phone System
Robert Fisk:, 09/20/03: BAGHDAD
For the second day running yesterday, the mobile telephone system operated by
MCI for the occupation forces collapsed, effectively isolating the 'Coalition
Provisional Authority' from its ministries and from US forces.
An increasing number of journalists in Baghdad now suspect that US proconsul Paul
Bremer and his hundreds of assistants ensconced in the heavily guarded former
presidential palace of Saddam Hussein in the capital, have simply lost touch with reality.
DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK
Bush; The Drowning Rat
1.)
What the $87 Billion Speech Cost Bush
By Mike Allen, Washington Post, 20 September 2003
President Bush has often used major speeches to bolster his standing with the
public, but pollsters and political analysts have concluded that his recent primetime address on Iraq may have had the opposite effect -- crystallizing doubts
about his postwar plans and fueling worries about the cost.
A parade of polls taken since the Sept. 7 speech has found notable erosion in public
approval for Bush's handling of Iraq, with a minority of Americans supporting the $87
billion budget for reconstruction and the war on terrorism that he unveiled.
"If Bush and his advisers had been looking to this speech to rally American
support for the president and for the war in Iraq, it failed," said Frank Newport,
editor in chief of the Gallup poll. He said Bush's speech may have cost him more
support than it gained, "because it reminded the public both of the problems in Iraq and
the cost."
Since the speech from the Cabinet Room, headlines on poll after poll have proved
unnerving for many Republicans and encouraging for Democrats. "Bush Iraq
Rating at New Low," said a CBS News poll taken Sept. 15 and Sept. 16.
"Americans Split on Bush Request for $87 Billion," said a Fox News poll taken
Sept. 9 and Sept. 10. A Gallup poll taken Sept 8 to 10 pointed to "increasingly
negative perceptions about the situation in Iraq" and found the balance between
Bush's approval and disapproval ratings to be "the most negative of the
administration."
A Washington Post-ABC News poll taken from Sept. 10 to Sept. 13 found that 55
percent of those surveyed said the Bush administration does not have a clear plan for
the situation in Iraq, and 85 percent said they were concerned the United States will get
bogged down in a long and costly peacekeeping mission.
2.)
Bush Losing Support on Right
Bob von Sternberg, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 20 September 2003
The criticisms of President Bush aren't surprising: He's bungling the war in Iraq;
his budget deficits are disastrous; he's trampling civil liberties; his spending
plans are misguided.
But the source of those criticisms is: They're increasingly coming from
conservatives.
Think tank studies, op-ed columns, talk radio callers and opinion polls show
conservatives' disenchantment with Bush's policies and priorities has been climbing,
although nowhere near as much as it has among liberals. And although those dismayed
conservatives might rally round him in next year's presidential election, his campaign
aides are keeping a close eye on the trend.
Conservatives' displeasure has been growing nationally. A recent ABC News poll found
that 23 percent of conservatives nationwide disapprove of the job Bush is doing, up from
14 percent in Apr
BUSH WONDERS WHERE AMERICANS GOT
KOOKY IDEAS ABOUT SADDAM AND 9/11
Blames Saddam for Confusion
President Bush said today that he was "baffled" as to where the American people got
such "kooky ideas" about Saddam Hussein's possible linkage to 9/11, and suggested
that Saddam himself might be responsible for the confusion.
After seeing polls showing that seventy percent of Americans believe that Saddam was
somehow linked to 9/11, President Bush said he was "flabbergasted" by how
widespread that opinion was and wondered how the American people came to such a
"wacky" conclusion.
After first theorizing that the belief in the Saddam-9/11 link was the result of "a simple
misunderstanding," Mr. Bush seized upon a more sinister explanation: that Saddam
Hussein himself was responsible for misinforming the American people.
"Increasingly, we are seeing evidence that Saddam Hussein intentionally created
the false impression that he was somehow responsible for 9/11 in order to
confuse seventy percent of the American people," the President said.
Mr. Bush added that even though the U.S. has so far been unable to find any evidence
of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the Iraqi strongman's "campaign of deception" to
trick the American people into believing he was involved in 9/11 was "reason enough" to
invade Iraq.
"Now that he has been removed from power, Saddam Hussein is no longer in a position
to make people think he is linked to things he is not linked to," Mr. Bush said.
Later at the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan clarified the President's remarks
somewhat, saying, "There is no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to any attempts to
trick the American people into thinking that Saddam Hussein is linked to anything."
AFGHANISTAN: THE FORGOTTEN WAR
Resistance Chief Organizes Campaign Vs. U.S.
By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer, 9.21.03
KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban supreme commander Mullah Mohammed Omar has held
a meeting with other Taliban leaders to reorganize their resurgent campaign against
U.S. forces and the Afghan government, a purported spokesman for the group said
Sunday.
Reading a statement in the name of former Taliban Information Minister Qudratullah
Jamal, Agha also claimed a string of military victories.
Agha said that a Taliban commander called Sardar Agha took control in recent
days of Dai Chupan and Atghar districts in the province of Zabul, another area
that has seen heavy fighting between coalition and Afghan forces and hundreds
of Taliban fighters.
"There is no state administration there," Agha said.
MAILBAG:
A writes:
I like what you're doing with the GI Special. I hope copies are being
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deployment. (We need your help, and everybodys’ help, to get GI Special into
those hands. Please pass it on to them. Also check out http://www.travelingsoldier.org/
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